Closings in the USA: Amazon is thinning out its network of cashless supermarkets

closures in the US
Amazon is thinning out its network of checkout-free supermarkets

Amazon closed its bookstores last year. Now the online giant is also closing several of its supermarkets in the USA. The concept of grocery stores that do without a cash register is not on the brink, however.

Amazon is thinning out its network of cashless stores in major US cities. Eight stores in San Francisco, New York and Seattle are scheduled to close on April 1. However, the world’s largest online retailer emphasized that they are sticking to the concept and will continue to operate more than 20 stores.

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At the same time, Amazon wants to be guided by which locations and functions are particularly popular with customers, a spokeswoman for the Bloomberg financial service said. The website Geekwire previously reported that the group would close four of its “Amazon Go” stores in San Francisco and two each in New York and Seattle. In each of the cities there remain several shops of this type.

In stores, customers simply pick items off the shelves and walk out of the store. Prerequisite is the possession of an Amazon account. In addition, the “Amazon Go” app must be installed on the smartphone before entering the supermarket. Cameras and other sensors, such as scales on the shelves, register which customer has taken which goods. The purchase price is debited via the app after leaving the store.

The rather smaller shops in the inner cities suffered from the consequences of the corona pandemic because many employees worked from home instead of in the office. The first store under the Amazon Go brand opened in 2018 at the company’s headquarters in Seattle. Amazon is now offering the technology to other retailers as well. In the grocery chain Whole Foods, which was bought for almost 14 billion dollars, the group is sticking to cash registers. Amazon already closed its bookstores and pop-up locations last year.

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